An integrated laboratory data acquisition and processing system has been developed for LCP and LMB, NIDDK, in Building 2, NIH. the system is configured with satellites coupled through a local network to a host processor. Each satellite is a dedicated microcomputer system performing data acquisition from, and control over, an instrument/experiment. Although acquired data files may be stored locally, they are normally transferred via the network to a host storage medium. The local network allows the host storage medium to appear as a "virtual" storage device to the satellites.